My name is a take on Rachel. Its spelled Raechel and pronounced in a French manner. Ray-shell. I used to hate it, but now I love my unique name. I wish I knew another person who spells and pronounces it the same way!

This is a pretty name, but I cannot get past the pop-culture reference (and I have never even *seen* Friends). It's too bad, because an otherwise lovely name has become overly saturated with popular media influence for me.

I have no bad impression of people named Rachel; I just couldn't name my own daughter that (above mentioned reason).

I also like the alternate spelling: Rachael. In fact, I think I may prefer it. Rae is a very pretty nickname, though I don't know if many Rachels refer to themselves by the shortened moniker.

-- Anonymous User 2/18/2006

I just love this name. It is elegant and classy.

-- Anonymous User 4/25/2006

I think that Rachel is one of the most beautiful names. I love the sound of it. It is perfect.

My name is Rachel, and someone once told me that when they say it, it sounds like the anme should be a queen, they said it sounds very powerful and royal. I don't really like my own name but I must say that I do like hearing those sorts of things about it. It would fit in if it did mean royal or regal or something though with my family. We have Ryan (little king), Richard (powerful fuler) and Rachel, which means ewe but if you use what that person said about the name then all of our names mean something having to do with power and royalty, it makes me like my name a little more.

My name is Rachel. I think it is fairly common. But I'd rather this spelling than Rachael or Rachelle or some other one. I'm named after Rachel Ward from her performance in Thornbirds. Rachel Marie - I like my name.

-- Anonymous User 8/5/2006

I don't like the fact that many people tend to just assume it is pronounced ray-chel. My friend's name is Rachel but she pronounces it ra-shell like Rachelle. She used to get very annoyed at people who mispronounced her name.

My name is Rachel and I have always absolutely loved my name. However, I was born in 1976, before the name became overly popular. In fact, when I was a young girl I only knew of two other Rachels. They were both over 50 years of age at the time. Now, there are a lot of young Rachels! Still, I love my name. :) Another thing: my mom always told me that she read that it means "innocent like a lamb."

-- Anonymous User 9/3/2006

Well I love my name, but have to admit that when I was younger I didn't really appreciate it. Now I love it and with my middle name it sounds like a queen's name, Rachel Elizabeth. Or should I say Queen Rachel Elizabeth. Everybody should name their daughter this! I also go by Ray Ray, not always but my family and my grandma called me Raquel. I loved that! Sweet name.

My name is Rachel and I guess it's fine. I've found the name getting more popular now. When I was a child I never came across someone with the same spelling as mine, it was usually Rachael or Racheal. I got used to everyone spelling my name that way, friends, teachers, relatives, etc. I met a girl with the same name, but spelt Raychel which is unusal. I like the versions of the name with the letter Y in it.

I like the name Rachel. I would use it but unfortunately it's in the Bible, and definitely no Bible names for my children.

-- Anonymous User 10/23/2006

I only like the pronunciation Ray-chel. I think it is beautiful and classy and very historical. It is feminine without being frilly and even though it is rather common it is always going to be charming.

Pretty name and very feminine, but my younger sister has six classmates with this name! If you give your daughter this name in the next few years, she will be one of many in her class.

-- Anonymous User 10/29/2006

Rachel is a beautiful elegant name for a girl. Definitely a 10 for me.

-- Anonymous User 10/31/2006

I have this name and sometimes I wish I didn't have this name but when I put it with my middle name Renee I really love the sound of Rachel Renee.

-- Anonymous User 11/5/2006

This name always makes me think of "satchel".

-- Anonymous User 11/12/2006

I love the name Rachel! (Partially because I have it) I know that a ton of people have the name, but who wouldn't want to name their daughter Rachel? It is cute and sophisticated! When I was younger I hated the name from lack of originality but now that I'm older I love it. It reminds of royalty. It is so pretty. And whoever bears this name should be pretty like me. LOL jk!

I myself was named Rachel, and always hated it as a child. But now I like it a lot better than the middle names they game me, as in Abigail Hansen. I can understand the Abigail part, but Hansen? I happen to like my first name, so bugger to you few people that don't.

I think this name is nice however you pronounce it be it Ray-chel Ra-shel or Ra-kel (Raquel) and the different spellings Rachael, Racheal, etc. But it is confusing seeing as we have 8 (yes that is right 8) Rachels in our school.

My name is Rachel Arianne. When I was a kid I was bothered by my name because I had the impression that it would only suit young people. I couldn't imagine being old and still being called Rachel Arianne. Heh! But now that I'm older, I think it's a great name to have. It may sound common but I sure like the meaning of it! I love my nickname too which is "Rae". For me it's a unique and cool nickname for girls. Haven't met any girls with this nickname before.

My name is Rachel. I never really considered it unique because I knew 5 other girls my age with the same name when I was younger. I quite like it now, although most people call me Rae - which is a variant of the name. I think traditional names like this are good as they never really go 'out of fashion' as opposed to some names which can always be related to a specific time-frame/era.

A nice name, though I have a rather unpleasant association with it. I think I prefer the French pronunciation, but I like them both.

-- Anonymous User 4/23/2007

This is the name of a person who almost ruined my life. No offense to people who like this name, but it hurts my ears to hear it. Other than that, I don't really like the name very much. It sounds a bit snooty. Every girl I've known named Rachel has had a very distasteful personality.

The name Rachel reminds me of someone who'd be very snobbish. Maybe it's because I had a former supervisor by this name. Even the Rachel in the Bible was very spoiled and manipulative to the point God intervened on her sister Leah's behalf and blessed her with many children.

It means "innocent", and I love this name even if it is common! It slowly grew on me after I named a character in my first (silly but sweet attempt at a) story. I don't like Rachelle because of the sound or Rachael because the spelling is too -- something. I love this name. : )

I'm a Rachel and I quite like it - it's not my favourite name ever but I think it'd be on the list even if it wasn't my name. I prefer my spelling and pronunciation to the others. It is a little overused, I know a couple of Rachels.

On nicknames I have a friend who delights in calling me "Ray" in "chav-speak" (?!) and in Latin class I'm Rachillius but it's not a name that lends itself to this kind of thing. Since my middle name is Louise the most commonly used nickname is "Sheep Warrior!" from a conversation on name meanings since Louise means warrior. My parents kind of contradicted themselves there, I think it's funny. :)

My name is Rachel and I used to absolutely hate it, but then I found out what it meant and now I love it (my favorite animal is sheep). My step-dad calls me Rachellie so occasionally I go by Ellie but most people would not think of this as nickname for the name Rachel. But I love both names.

I also love the spelling Rachyl I think that this is a really cool way to play up an already great name. Rachyl is the kind of name that you can absolutely love or really really hate it.

This name is nauseatingly common, and I'm not sure why it has been so popular all this time. It's really not that pretty. On the other hand, it doesn't sound too cutesy and infantile, and it certainly doesn't sound tacky and trashy like Makayla, Makenna, Nevaeh, Keisha, and the likes. It's a pretty safe name, and I've noticed that relatively sane and cool women have this name. It makes me think of good-looking and quite intelligent and cool people, but I don't really like the somewhat harsh sound of it.

Nasty and cold sounding. Unlike other Biblical names such as Mary or Ruth, I don't find it dignified at all. It's cheap and common. If I had a dollar for every Rachel Elizabeth I've met, I'd be rich. *repeated yawns*

-- Anonymous User 6/3/2008

I hate the name too. Shameful it's a pretty good name. Too overused.

-- Anonymous User 6/7/2008

I really don't like this name. It sounds harsh and choppy, not pretty at all. And it always reminds me of the mean snotty popular girl.

I think it's way overused. It's my name but I don't want my name to mean a "ewe." It seems almost demeaning to me.

-- Anonymous User 1/1/2009

My name is Rachel and I love it. In primary school, there were only 3 Rachels in two classes of around 28 pupils. Now there's only 3 Rachels in seven classes of around 30 pupils. My full name is Rachel Elizabeth Ann, which is a bit predictable, but very very pretty, and carries on the legacy of my two unfortunately dead grannies. I get VERY annoyed when people say they hate my really beautiful name so beware! :-)

My name is Rachel. I think it's okay, but it's way too overused. I also don't like its English form. I've tried to get people to call me "Rachelle" or "Rae" but it never caught on. In my old school there were 200 kids, and 20 (yes, twenty!) girls and one boy were called Rachel. But for some reason, I've found that the farther west you live there are a lot less "Rachel"s.

My name is Rachel, and I happen to like the name quite a bit. I haven't met anyone close to my age with the same name (I'm 14). Usually the Rachels I've met are older than I am. I have a lot of nicknames, Rach, RayRay, Rachey, and occasionally Ray. I like my name a lot and I think it fits me well.

I love this classic name; it has a nice ring to it, feminine but not flowery or flouncy. And sheep don't have any negative connotations for me - rather the opposite. Far from silly or weak, wild sheep are pretty hardy creatures. Symbolically I tend to see them as nurturing, protective - primarily gentle, but there's nothing as fierce as a mother ewe protecting her lamb.

All the same, I'd hesitate to name a daughter of mine after a random animal - I like to choose names that have deeper personal significance. I'd consider it if my daughter were born under the Zodiac sign Aries, or in the Chinese year of the Sheep.

My name is Rachel, and I was born when it was pretty much at the height of its popularity, and under the zodiac of Aries. My parents named me this because they were reading the biography of Andrew Jackson whose wife's name was named Rachel. I never really liked my name until I read somewhere that as a Rachel my life would be "set to music" and even though Rachel is not a very musical or lyrical name, I found that statement to be very poetic and further endeared me to my name.

My name is Rachel. I like the name Rachel by itself, but being Jewish, it is very common so I like using my middle name with it since it is pretty and not as common. A lot of friends will call me Rach or Rachie which I like as well. In Hebrew my name is pronounced Rochel. I am named after Rochel from the Torah and I admire her very much.

-- Anonymous User 11/27/2010

I don't like the sound of this name. It reminds me of rashes and itching.

-- Anonymous User 12/13/2010

This is my real name, and I've hated it for as long as I remember. For one, it was (is?) too popular. In elementary school I had to have my surname tacked on because there were always two or three other Rachels.

More importantly, I find the sound of the name unpleasant. The "aych" sound in particular is cacophonic and displeasing to one's ears. (The "ehl" ending isn't much better). It's unattractively harsh.

-- Anonymous User 4/6/2011

This name sounds so harsh. Apparently some people jumped off the bridge to name their kids this and now everyone has. No offense to anyone named Rachel, it just sounds harsh. Imagine if Rachel was uncommon and think of meeting one! You'd think it was odd sounding, for its RAY and CHUL sounds.

-- Anonymous User 7/6/2011

The name Rachel sounds too masculine. It reminds me of Richard and Michael.

-- Anonymous User 7/20/2011

I've never liked this name. It looks kind of pretty on paper but the pronunciation puts me off. The English one is kind of harsh and the Dutch one is simply awful (and it doesn't help that it sounds like the word "rochel", which means "phlegm"). The French one is better but even that one sounds kind of shrill.

For some reason, this name always makes me think of an enviable girl who is dreamy, ambitious, creative, etc, but in a spoilt and selfish sort of way.

-- Anonymous User 4/6/2012

My name's Rachel, and I like my name, people say they don't like it, well that's your opinion, but I don't like the fact that people say they think it's a snobby name or they've never met a nice Rachel because I know I am neither snobby or mean. I am actually a very nice and a bubbly person who is very nice. It's awful that because you have never met a nice Rachel you think all Rachels are nasty well that's not the case. Whoever said they would get a dollar for the amount of people called Rachel Elizabeth, well you will have one less dollar here. Overall I like the name Rachel.

Rachel is a beautiful name. I like it much better than Mary which means bitter. In choosing a name even for one of my characters, the meaning is very important to me. My name book says Rachel can also mean Quiet Innocence. That's a much better thing to live up to than going through life being called bitter all the time. Not that every Mary in the world is a bitter person. My three requirements for choosing a name is: 1)sounds good with last name, 2)means something pleasant or appropriate to the character/story, 3) sounds pretty and is easy to say. Okay, so that's four but you get my drift. Oh, and it's a classic that will never go out of style. Rachel Leigh Cook is a good actress if not yet famous.

My name's Rachel, but personally, I don't like it. To me it's overused, cliche, trite, and boring, so yes, I don't like my name. But last year I realized that I could always nickname myself, or what this site calls it-use a diminutive. So my friends, and family (except for my my mom when she's mad) call me Rae. And now looking on the site, Raelene and Raelyn, my favorite being the latter, are also diminutives, so I'm going to end up embracing my name and using Raelyn.

By the way, the whole 'Rae' nickname started when I wrote it on a school paper in 6th grade, and Chris, this kid in my class who the teacher assigned to collect the papers, saw my nickname atop the paper, and said to me "Oh have your paper RAE." So that's how it all started.

SO! I don't think Rachel is the best name out there. It has a strange meaning- "ewe" and barely any namesakes- bibilical, and just strikes me as so... boring and mundane. But if your stuck with it at least it has some cool diminutives, like Rae, Raelyn, and Raelene. So you can make the best of it.

My name is Rachel. I went through a long love-hate period with my name (not crazy about the meaning, mostly) but now I've mostly come to accept it. I like that it seems solid- not frilly or princessy like some other names nowadays. And I don't really mind the lack of nicknames, this is a name that really kind of stands on its own. Plus it's reasonably popular (I know several Rachels and a few Rachaels) but not so much that it's overwhelming. Overall, I really do like it, both as a name in its own right and as my name.

My name is Rachel and personally, I love my name. I know a lot of people named Rachel hate it but I don't. Rachel can be an anyone name. A loser, a prom queen, that school *female dog*, the nerdy cute girl, or the prepster. I've seen it all. And a lot of people also think "oh. Rachel means 'ewe' that's really weird. I hate my name" but in Hebrew (I'm Jewish so I was named from the TORAH not the bible. C'mon people. There's a difference) ewe means lamb so as a child my mom always called me lamby, even in public too :( But having my name being Rachel and actually knowing the whole story of Rachel and Jacob and Leah, it adds meaning to my name that I really love. Also, my brothers name is Jacob and my cousins name is Leah so Passover and other Jewish holiday conversations got really weird... Many people spell my name as Rachael and I actually just hate that spelling. I don't know why, I just do. My name from Hebrew transliteration is spelt Rachelle but doesn't sound like "ray-shell" is sounds like " rah-chell" and the "ch" sounds like your clearing your throat. You know what, Hebrew is a difficult language. Don't even bother sounding that out unless you're a Jew.

So whenever I find another Rachel, I ask them their middle name. And it turns out a lot of people have "L"s in their middle name. I'm Rachel Ellen. I know a Rachel Lyn. A Rachel Leigh. A Rachel Elizabeth. Rachel Elise. That's about it. But yeah. Those E s and L a are really common in Rachel's middle names.

I love my name! I think its cute but intelligent. It suits a child or an adult. The meaning lamb is adorable! And I've been called rach and rachieface, I love them both. Friends usually call me rach but sometimes people I don't know as well will call me rach and I like it, its more of a personal connection. I was named after Rachel greene from friends and I couldn't be more proud! Yes there were 4 other rachels in my graduating class, but we were all very kind and likable people, never mean. And my middle name is Catherine, not Elizabeth. Being born under the Aries sign I really just don't think I could have another name.